Head-mounted display (HMD) devices are configured to be worn on, or otherwise affixed to, a user's head. An HMD typically comprises one or more displays positioned in front of one, or both, of the user's eyes. The HMD may display images (e.g., still images, sequences of images, and/or videos) from an image source overlaid with information and/or images from the user's surrounding environment (e.g., as captured by a camera), for example, to immerse the user in a virtual world. HMD devices have applications in medical, military, gaming, aviation, engineering, and various other professional and/or entertainment industries.
HMD devices typically communicate with a separate host device. The host device may receive image data from an image source and process or render the image data to be displayed on the HMD device. The host device then transmits the processed image data to the HMD device for display. Accordingly, most (if not all) of the image processing is performed on the host device, while the HMD device simply displays or presents the received images (e.g., from the host device) to the user. This allows for greater power and memory savings on the HMD device.
Because the host device is physically separated from the HMD device, the rate at which the HMD device can display new images to the user is often limited by the bandwidth of the communication medium (e.g., cable) connecting the host device to the HMD device. However, certain applications (e.g., virtual reality) may require very high-resolution images to be transported from the host device to the HMD device at a very high rate (e.g., in response to any movement of the user's head and/or eyes).